Down, down, the Slide Raft sped, until it was going so fast that its occupants could not talk. The wind whistled past them like a gale, and if it had not been for the weight of the Soft-Voiced Cow they would have been swept from the Slide Raft by the force of the wind.
Just as they were nearing the bottom of the mountain the ground took a dip. Down this the frail Slide Raft shot suddenly, and up the other side.
Gran’ma and Janey screamed as the Slide Raft left the ground at the top of the little mound and plunged straight down for a hundred feet or more.
As good fortune had it, the path of the Slide Raft seemed to have been made for just such tobogganing. At the bottom of the fearful drop the ground fell away in a graceful curve, so, after hitting the ground at the bottom of the mountain, the Slide Raft went about five hundred feet out across a small pond at the edge of the pine forest, skipping across the water like a skipper rock thrown by a boy, and came to rest a short distance from the opposite bank.
As the Slide Raft stopped, the Soft-Voiced Cow fell over on her side and closed her eyes.
Gran’pa jumped from the raft and pulled it into shore, while the Tiptoe Brothers filled their hats with water which they dashed over the head of the Soft-Voiced Cow.
“She has fainted!” Gran’ma said.
“Let’s get her ashore!” Johnny cried. “Everybody take hold!”
It took a lot of pulling and tugging, but finally they got the Soft-Voiced Cow up the bank and pulled grass for a pillow.
“I wish I had my smelling salts!” cried Gran’ma.